Culture

A study conducted by the universities of Liverpool and Oxford has found that "Inconsistent and inequitable" hip fracture treatment in the UK means deprived patients and those admitted at weekends are least likely to receive the recommended operation.

Poorer patients and those who require surgery at the weekend are less likely to receive a total hip replacement (THR), despite clear national guidelines setting out who should get one.

Living in a high-deprivation neighbourhood may lead to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, according to a unique study looking at the health of refugee immigrants in Sweden, published today in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Working past age 65 could lead to longer life, while retiring early may be a risk factor for dying earlier, a new study from Oregon State University indicates.

The researchers found that healthy adults who retired one year past age 65 had an 11 percent lower risk of death from all causes, even when taking into account demographic, lifestyle and health issues. Adults who described themselves as unhealthy were also likely to live longer if they kept working, the findings showed, which indicates that factors beyond health may affect post-retirement mortality.

In a review of 19 studies, researchers at Johns Hopkins say they can confirm a "strong association" between certain scalp-pulling hairstyles -- many common among African-Americans -- and the development of traction alopecia, gradual hair loss caused by damage to the hair follicle from prolonged or repeated tension on the hair root. An estimated one-third of African-American women suffer from traction alopecia, making it the most common form of hair loss among that group.

April 27, 2016 -- Men who view more sexually explicit pornography where condoms were used were less likely to have anal sex without a condom themselves. A study by Eric Schrimshaw, PhD, at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, and Martin J. Downing, Jr., PhD, of the Public Health Solutions shows evidence that suggests pornography can have an important protective function by encouraging men to use condoms. Findings are published online in the journal PLOS One.

Hot Melt Extrusion (HME) and Injection Moulding (IM) are becoming more prevalent in the drug delivery field due to their advantages over current pharmaceutical manufacturing techniques. HME is a continuous process that can be used in the pharmaceutical industry to increase the solubility of poorly water soluble drugs, through the generation of solid dispersions, and to manufacture dosage final dosage forms.

Children with cerebral palsy frequently undergo invasive surgeries -- lengthening tendons, rotating bones, transferring muscles to new locations -- in hopes of improving their physical ability to walk or move.

While the surgeries work beautifully for some patients, other children see little to no improvement after those operations.

WASHINGTON --Adults with asthma who were treated with one-dose dexamethasone in the emergency department had only slightly higher relapse than patients who were treated with a 5-day course of prednisone. "Enhanced compliance and convenience may support the use of dexamethasone" is the conclusion of a study that was published online Friday in Annals of Emergency Medicine ("A Randomized Controlled Noninferiority Trial of Single Dose vs. Five Days of Oral Dexamethasone in Acute Adult Asthma").

Philadelphia, PA, April 27, 2016 - As we better understand the role food plays in our overall health and wellbeing, the closer the connection becomes between nutrition and medicine. Malnutrition is a critical public health problem, affecting many people across the United States and around the world. Unfortunately, the modern day manifestations of hunger are increasingly complex.

As a fundamental component of the ocular examination, accurate measurement of intra-ocular pressure (IOP) facilitates the management of patients with established glaucoma and the identification of patients with an elevated risk of developing glaucoma. For over 70 years, the most common method of measuring IOP has been by Goldmann Applanation Tonometry (GAT), largely on account of its low cost and ease of use.

A University of Iowa-led study of diabetes-related vision impairment holds good news -- and some bad news -- for patients with signs of these disorders.

Scientists have long known that patients with diabetes mellitus -- both Type 1 and Type 2 -- are at high risk for developing diabetic retinopathy, the most common cause of irreversible blindness in adults. Vision loss occurs due to microvascular damage to the retina. People with diabetes are typically not aware that they are also at risk for developing retinal diabetic neuropathy, a loss of the nerve cells in the retina.

CINCINNATI - Scientists are teaching computers to figure out why people accept or decline invitations to participate in clinical trials. Recruiting sufficient numbers of participants is a current challenge in medical research that can compromise results or stop some studies altogether.

Researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center report April 27 in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association they are using so-called "machine learning" technologies to predict whether patients will participate.

A University of Iowa-led study of diabetes-related vision impairment holds good news -- and some bad news -- for patients with signs of these disorders.

Scientists have long known that patients with diabetes mellitus -- both Type 1 and Type 2 -- are at high risk for developing diabetic retinopathy, the most common cause of irreversible blindness in adults. Vision loss occurs due to microvascular damage to the retina. People with diabetes are typically not aware that they are also at risk for developing retinal diabetic neuropathy, a loss of the nerve cells in the retina.

New research from Denmark, Canada and the US involving more than 300,000 individuals suggests that patients do not need to check their cholesterol levels on an empty stomach. So far fasting has been required before cholesterol and triglyceride measurement in all countries except Denmark, where non-fasting blood sampling has been used since 2009.

Philadelphia, PA, April 27, 2016 - Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of disability globally. Participation in cardiac rehabilitation programs is associated with significantly lower death, but evidence suggests that women are significantly less likely to stick to a cardiac rehabilitation program than men, according to investigators writing in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.